Papua New Guinea shows great diversity in a small geographical area. More than a quarter of the world's languages are found there among less than four million people. It can thus be regarded as a `small cosmos' in which complex interrelationships can be studied within a connected whole.

In this book, the human biology of Papua New Guinea is described and studies are presented of the geography, demography, social anthropology, linguistics, and human genetics of the country. These studies are linked to biomedical and epidemiological research. The results are of wider significance and will be of interest to those working in human biology and biomedicine elsewhere in the world.